Benjamin v. Does et al

Filing 17

ORDER signed by Judge Pamela Pepper on 1/11/2019. Plaintiff to file amended complaint by 3/15/2019. Failure to file by deadline will result in dismissal of case. (cc: all counsel, via mail to Leshaun Benjamin at Dodge Correctional Institution-with copy of dkt. 11, and guide and blank form for prisoner complaint)(cb)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
______________________________________________________________________________
LESHAUN BENJAMIN,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No. 18-cv-570-pp

ALICIA SANCHEZ, et al.,
Defendants.
______________________________________________________________________________
ORDER REQUIRNIG THE PLAINTIFF TO FILE AN AMENDED COMPLAINT
BY THE END OF THE DAY ON MARCH 15, 2019
______________________________________________________________________________
The plaintiff filed this case on April 11, 2018. Dkt. No. 1. At that time, he
was in the Milwaukee County Jail. Id. at 12. On September 12, 2018, after
receiving a request from the plaintiff to supplement his complaint, dkt. no. 9,
the court told him that he needed to file an amended complaint, containing all
the claims he wished to bring, dkt. no. 11 at 4-7. It gave him a deadline of
October 19, 2018 to file that amended complaint. Id. at 10-11. The post office
returned that order to the court as undeliverable. Dkt. No. 12. A week later, the
court received a change of address notice from the plaintiff, indicating that he
was living on North 58th Street in Milwaukee. Dkt. No. 13. The next day, the
court mailed a copy of the order to that address. A month later, on November 7,
2018, the court received a letter from the plaintiff, saying that he did not know
what he was supposed to do and asking for a self-help guide. Dkt. No. 14. The
plaintiff said nothing about a new address, but the return address on the
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envelope was the address of the Milwaukee County Jail, so the court concludes
that he must have returned to custody sometime between October and
November. Concerned that these address changes may have prevented the
plaintiff from getting the court’s September 12 order, the court issued an order
on November 29, 2018, requiring the plaintiff to file an amended complaint by
the end of the day on December 28, 2018. Dkt. No. 15.
On December 27, 2018, the court received a letter from the plaintiff,
dated December 13, 2018 and addressed to the clerk. Dkt. No. 16. The plaintiff
asked for his “legal dockets” so that he could “continue [his] case, indicating
that he believed that his “mail was being played with at (M.C.J.).” Id. He asked
for an extension of time to try to amend the complaint. Id. The return address
on this envelope was Dodge Correctional Institution.
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections’ Inmate Locator shows that
since April 2018, when the plaintiff filed this case, he has been back and forth
between the Milwaukee County Jail/House of Corrections, the Milwaukee
Secure Detention Facility, Dodge Correctional, and the Washington County
Jail, and it indicates that he is currently at Dodge Correctional Institution.
https://appsdoc.wi.gov/lop/detail.do.
The court understands that the plaintiff may not have control over where
he is housed, and when he is transferred from one facility to another. But the
court has been trying since mid-September—almost four months now—to give
the plaintiff the opportunity to amend his complaint in such a way that he can
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proceed. The court cannot leave the case hanging indefinitely. The court is
going to give the plaintiff one more extension of time to file an amended
complaint, against related defendants on related claims. Along with this order,
the court will send the plaintiff a copy of the order it issued back in September,
explaining to him what he needed to do. The court also will send him, one more
time, a blank complaint form and a guide for prisoners representing
themselves. If the court does not receive an amended complaint from the
plaintiff by the deadline below, however, the court will dismiss his complaint
for failure to comply with the court’s orders and for failure to diligently pursue
the case.
The court ORDERS that the plaintiff shall file an amended complaint in
time for the court to receive it by the end of the day on Friday, March 15,
2019. If the court does not receive an amended complaint from the plaintiff by
the end of the day on March 15, 2019, the court will dismiss this case for
failure to diligently pursue it. See Civil L.R. 41(c). The court will dismiss the
case without prejudice.
Dated at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this 11th day of January, 2019.
BY THE COURT:
_____________________________________
HON. PAMELA PEPPER
United States District Judge

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